Denver Metro Real Estate Market Trends and Conditions

Everytime you read the newspaper or a financial magazine, you see opinions on real estate.  Are we in a bubble or not?  Will interest rates go up or not?  Will your house be worth more or less a year from now?  Depending on the story, the mood is optimistic, pessimistic or cautious.  I've sorted through statistics to compile my own pro and con table below.

Optimistic View	Pessimistic View
Interest Rates Are Low	Interest rates are expected to rise, which will make houses less affordable.
Denver is ranked 78 out of 161 major metropolitan cities as far as affordable homes based on median wages.  The entire chart can be seen at http://www.nahb.org/fileUpload_details.aspx?contented=535	A house that costs ,000 today was almost ,000 less seven years ago.
The Denver job market is improving	The Denver unemployment rate is 5.0%   (12/04, Bureau of Labor Statistics).  While this is slightly better than the 5.4% national rate, it is more than double the 2.3% annual rate for Denver in 1999 and 2000.
Foreclosures may be rising but considering how many homes have been built in the metro area since 1988, the percentage of foreclosures is still much smaller than in 1988.	Over 12,000 foreclosures were recorded in 2004. Foreclosures are at a level not seen since 1988, when there were 17,122 foreclosures.  Foreclosed houses tend to go for less money than comparable houses, bring down prices in the entire neighborhood.

 My personal opinion is that with inventory high (that's the number of houses on the market), rental rates lower than a few years ago, and interest rates expected to go up, it could be a rocky few years.  If you are expecting to sell in two years, this may not be the best time to buy a house.  If, however, you're planning to be in a house for a considerable period of time, since interest rates are so low, this is a great time to buy.